KEY POINTS:
Company directors need to harden up and be prepared to take tough questions from their shareholders, one of Australia's top executives says.
James Strong, chairman of Woolworths, which owns New Zealand supermarkets Woolworths, Foodtown and Countdown, told members of an Australian superannuation conference held in Auckland this week that a lot of directors don't like big shareholder meetings. "It can be pretty rough going depending on what is happening in the company and that can be affected by general economics."
Both Australia and New Zealand are in the middle of the annual general meeting season and for the first time in years directors are having to break bad news and face up to tougher questions from investors.
But Strong said that was just part of the job. "I have always thought that if you are going to take on a position of importance you have got to be prepared to front up to people. You have got to listen and let people speak because that is part of the process."
Strong said many directors felt uncomfortable when confronted at annual general meetings.
"But they just have to accept that is part of taking on responsibility."
He said for many who attended the meetings the perception was that directors were sitting on a gravy train.
"And it feels unjust - well that is part of life as well."
Strong said Woolworths would host its meeting at the end of the month and he expected a range of questions that many would deem trivial to the company.
"A lot of time will be taken up with people complaining about plastic bags, genetically modified food and hormones being injected into chickens. Most of all there will be lots of complaints about trolleys that don't go straight."
But Strong said AGMs were there as a barometer for the issues surrounding an industry.
"Is it the most efficient way? Basically not. Although from time to time there are good questions. But it still comes down to how do you have a say?"
Often it was important just to listen to what people had to say, Strong said.
New Zealand's AGM season has been dominated by concerns about rising director fees in the face of falling share prices and company earnings.
